Flymen Fishing Company

Fish-Skull® Captain Dubiel’s Pop-N-Fly™

Flymen Fishing Company

Fish-Skull® Captain Dubiel’s Pop-N-Fly™

$ 5.50

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Call big fish to the surface.

Co-developed with Capt. Gary Dubiel

Renowned fly fishing guide Captain Gary Dubiel has developed the perfect method for catching giant fish on the fly. The Pop-N-Fly is a lightweight foam cylinder with an embedded articulated shank, enabling it to be attached between your leader and tippet. The foam suspends your fly below the surface and when stripped it pops and splashes, causing a commotion on the surface which sounds like other fish feeding on bait, enticing the fish you're targeting to strike an easy meal.

While originally designed for redfish, the Pop-N-Fly has proved to be effective for numerous other saltwater and freshwater species, including speckled trout, false albacore, cobia, striped bass, smallmouth bass, lake trout, and more.

Simple to castThe Pop-N-Fly is lightweight and aerodynamic, making it easy to cast with a fly rod (Small: 7-9 wt; Large: 9-12 wt.).

Easy to seeThe bright orange (saltwater) and bright chartreuse (freshwater) stand out in the water.

Attach your Pop-N-Fly between the leader and tippet. The tippet should typically be about 20 inches (51 cm) long to which your fly (a lightweight baitfish pattern) is attached. Cast out, then use short, hard strips to work your Pop-N-Fly and create attention-grabbing commotion. This technique draws predatory fish toward the surface where they see your fly suspended helplessly below for an easy meal. It's an invitation they can't refuse.

Q: Is the Pop-N-Fly a strike indicator?

A: Not really. It’s main purpose is a noise-making attractor that raises fish to the surface. The suspended fly offers an easy meal, but when the Pop-N-Fly disappears you know you're hooked up.

Q: How do you rig the Pop-N-Fly?

A:Connect the Pop-N-Fly to a straight piece of leader material from your fly line. Six to eight feet works great. Tie leader material to the other end, typically 18 to 24 inches, then your favorite weighted fly pattern.

Q: Is the Pop-N-Fly just for redfish?

A:No. In saltwater the Pop-N-Fly has been very successful on spotted seatrout, striped bass and redfish. In also works very well in fresh water, particularly in lakes with shad populations. Largemouth, spotted, striped and white bass and crappie have all been taken on the Pop-N-Fly. Many species haven’t seen it yet, so give it a try.

Q: Where did the idea for the Pop-N-Fly come from?

A: The Pop-N-Fly was designed to emulate the action of a popping cork, a very popular conventional fishing rig originated in the Gulf states. The rig proved to be deadly on suspending giant redfish in North Carolina’s Neuse River. When introduced, the Pop-N-Fly proved to be just as deadly.

Q: Why use the Pop-N-Fly over a popper?

A:Often a fish that is attracted to surface noise will refuse a top water fly, rolling underneath it or turning away. With the Pop-N-Fly, those fish that would have refused the popper eat the trailing sub-surface streamer resulting in more hook-ups.

Q: Is the Pop-N-Fly hard to cast?

A: The Pop-N-Fly, leader and trailing fly pattern are no more difficult to cast than a regular popping bug. The unique light weight design pushes through the air nicely.

Related products

Tapered synthetic fly tying fibers.

Tie flies of all types and sizes from nymphs to Clousers to T-Bones with Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail, a tapered synthetic multi-use fly tying fiber designed to imitate typical premium-length natural bucktail.

Fish-Skull Faux Bucktail fibers have the same basic diameter, gentle crinkle, and taper as natural bucktail. In appearance, it looks almost identical and has the same distinctive bucktail fly or lure action in the water. However, the fibers are not hollow (which helps your fly sink faster) and will not “flare” in the same way as regular bucktail while tying. This means you will need to tie with slightly different techniques to achieve the same effect.

Every Faux Bucktail fiber is premium 6” (152 mm) length, giving you more than twice the amount of usable fibers per tail and eliminating the headache of sorting and searching for ideal strands. Simply peel off the full length of your desired amount of fibers, trim to length, and tie them in.

Note: Faux Bucktail cuts easily, but like most other synthetic materials can be hard on your nice scissors. Use serrated heavy duty scissors designed for synthetics (or an old pair you don’t mind abusing).

More useable fiber than natural bucktail.Every fiber in the Faux Bucktail pack is useable! You will find that Faux Bucktail has approximately 2-3 times the amount of useable fiber per pack than a typical natural bucktail.

Consistent length.Unlike natural bucktail, every Faux Bucktail fiber is of premium length (6 inches / 152 mm), eliminating the need to sort and search for ideal length strands and having to discard short hairs and under fibers that are unusable.

Ease of use.Each Faux Bucktail bundle of fibers is glued together at the base making it easy and convenient to work with. Simply peel off the full length of your desired amount of fibers, trim to desired length, and tie them in. All the fibers are already “pre-stacked,” but like natural bucktail a clump of fibers can be easily pulled and teased out to create a nice tapered tail, wing or body on your fly or lure.

Permanent color and sheen. Faux Bucktail is available in 12 vibrant, consistent colors that will not bleed onto your hands while tying or fade from constant fishing. The fibers also have a semi-translucent sheen to them in the water which looks great!

Tough & durable. Designed to hold up to the toothy rigors of big-game fishing (“bite-proof”), Faux Bucktail fibers bond with super glue or other adhesives better than natural fibers, which secures eyes, thread wraps and other materials firmly in place and increases the lifespan of your flies or lures.

Blends well with other materials. One of the real strengths is that Faux Bucktail is that it blends and combines very well with both natural bucktail and other synthetic/non-synthetic fly tying materials. For example, it helps fly tyers to get more use out of their natural bucktails by providing an easy source of longer fibers that can be combined with the shorter fibers often not fully utilized on a natural bucktail.

Sheds water.Keep your flies light and easy to cast all day. No more waterlogged flies or lures.

Sinks faster. Because the fibers are not hollow, Faux Bucktail is not as buoyant as natural bucktail and will sink down into the water column faster. This is usually an advantage.

No smell.Unlike natural bucktail, Faux Bucktail will make the fish you are targeting (and your spouse) much, much happier!

Performance advantage. Faux Bucktail has a distinct performance advantage over other synthetic fibers on the market because it is tapered, enabling the fibers to move more naturally in the water like real animal fur. To explain, normal synthetic fibers are not tapered, which means the diameter of each fiber is exactly the same thickness from one end to the other. This creates a consistent stiffness along the full length of the fiber which does not allow the energy generated from the front of the fly or lure (as it moves through the water) to accelerate along the full length of the fiber to the back in the same way that a tapered fiber does. To illustrate this concept, think of how much easier it is to crack a whip than it is to crack a length of rope! In summary, a tapered fiber will give your fly or lure better action.

Like most synthetic fibers, Faux Bucktail is quite slippery and your thread may tend to slip (especially when wrapping a thread head). This can be frustrating, but some small adjustments to your tying technique can make this easier.

i. Use a strong thread (like Veravas 210 denier) and simply spin your bobbin multiple times while suspended from the fly in order to twist your tying thread into a tight “rope”. This gives the thread a nice rough texture which helps bite down and grip into the material.

ii. Put a drop of super glue (like Loctite Gel) on the base before making your first thread wrap. This immediately helps the thread to grab hold and stop slipping forward.

iii. Tie a small “thread ball” about an 1/8” in front of the tie-in point. This creates a small “valley” between the tie-in point and the thread ball to give the Faux Bucktail a place to fold down/sink into when you make your first wraps and overcomes the tendency of the thread to slip forwards.

See Blane Chocklett's instructional videos for a more in-depth explanation.

Q: What does “faux” mean?

A: The word faux is derived from French and the definition is “Made in imitation; artificial. Not genuine; fake or false”

Q: What makes Faux Bucktail different from other synthetic fibers?A: It’s all about the taper! Faux Bucktail is the first, long synthetic fiber on the market that is naturally tapered to a point like real animal fur.

This taper makes the fibers much more versatile allowing it to be easily used in a variety of ways (from nymphs to pike flies).

It also has a distinct performance advantage over other synthetic fibers on the market because tapered fibers move more naturally in the water. To explain, normal synthetic fibers are not tapered which means the diameter of each fiber is exactly the same thickness from one end to the other. This creates a “consistent stiffness” along the full length of the fiber which does not allow the energy generated from the front of the fly or lure (as it moves through the water) to accelerate along the full length of the fiber to the back in the same way that a tapered fiber does. To illustrate this concept, think of how much easier it is to crack a whip than it is to crack a length of rope! In summary, a tapered end (natural or synthetic) tends to give your fly or lure better action.

Q: Is Faux Bucktail meant to completely replace regular bucktail?

A: No. Natural bucktail is a unique material with certain fly tying properties that cannot be replicated with current technology and it has a place on every fly tyers desk. Faux Bucktail is not intended to be a replacement for every situation in which tyers use bucktail, but does provide fly tyers with an exciting new, synthetic option to supplement their fly tying material arsenal with.

Q: Are the fibers hollow like regular bucktail?

A: No. The biggest difference that fly tyers will notice is the fibers are solid and as a result does not “flare” easily. This means some adjustments to your tying technique will be needed when “hollow” or “reverse” tying in order to achieve similar effects. See Blane Chocklett's instructional videos to learn some quick and easy techniques to achieve this look with Faux Bucktail.

Q: I’m finding the fibers are slippery and my thread is slipping. What can I do?

A: Like most synthetic fibers, Faux Bucktail is quite slippery and your thread may tend to slip (especially when wrapping a thread head). This can be frustrating, but some small adjustments to your tying technique can make this easier.

Try one or all of these tips:

i. Use a strong thread (like Veravas 210 denier) and simply spin your bobbin multiple times while suspended from the fly in order to twist your tying thread into a tight “rope”. This gives the thread a nice rough texture which helps bite down and grip into the material.

ii. Put a drop of super glue (like Loctite Gel) on the base before making your first thread wrap. This immediately helps the thread to grab hold and stop slipping forward.

iii. Tie a small “thread ball” about an 1/8” in front of the tie-in point. This creates a small “valley” between the tie-in point and the thread ball to give the Faux Bucktail a place to fold down/sink into when you make your first wraps and overcomes the tendency of the thread to slip forwards.

See Blane Chocklett's instructional videos for a more in-depth explanation.

Q: What scissors should I use?

A: Warning! Faux Bucktail cuts easily, but like most other synthetic materials can be very hard on your nice scissors! Use one of the serrated, heavy duty scissors designed for synthetics that are now available (or an old pair you don’t mind abusing).

Q: Can I reverse or hollow tie with Faux Bucktail?

A: Yes, but because the fibers are not hollow you will need to make adjustments to your techniques in order to achieve the same effect.

Q: Will Faux Bucktail sink faster than natural bucktail?

A: Yes. Because the fibers are solid and not hollow, Faux Bucktail is not as buoyant as natural bucktail and will sink down faster into the water column. This is usually an advantage.

Tie scaled-down articulated flies with lifelike movement.

Co-designed by Greg Senyo

Greg Senyo is a prominent steelhead and salmon expert who has designed many leading fly tying materials.

Senyo’s Micro Shank is a smaller, lighter version of the popular Senyo’s Articulated Shank, and is a simple, versatile solution for tying a variety of small, articulated flies such as petite trout wet flies, low-water steelhead flies, sparse streamer designs, and small traditional salmon flies. The wire diameter is small enough to directly attach to hooks as small as size #10.

The ultralight, slim, and strong shank also offers a new option for tying surface flies and brings a high degree of realistic, articulated movement to small fly design.

Spey fishing for TroutSwinging flies for trout on one-handed or lightweight two-hander fly rods has been rapidly gaining in popularity, and for good reason – it’s super fun!

Sometimes referred to as the “Single-Hand Spey Revolution,” anglers are now adapting proven, traditional spey fishing tactics and fly designs to target trout in ways similar to swinging flies for salmon and steelhead.

Low-water steelhead fishingIn recent years, anglers targeting steelhead have had to adapt their fly designs to match the increasing low-water conditions in fisheries worldwide.

A lighter shank for designing and tying smaller, sparse flies is incredibly useful in these situations.

European fly designsAnglers across Europe, particularly in the Nordic countries and the Baltic region, are creating unique and innovative small fly designs to target Atlantic salmon, sea trout, and brown trout. Senyo’s Micro Shank enables the tying of these of these smaller, less bulky patterns.

Other uses Panfish, warmwater, and saltwater applications are still present, and this lightweight shank with an up-eye is compatible with all current shank models as an add on.

Quick and easy to tieSenyo's Shank is designed to be able to be held straight in any fly tying vise, avoiding the need to tie the fly at strange angles.

This allows you to easily attach a free-swinging stinger hook or do a direct hook-to-shank connection using the rear loop.

This provides your flies with a more realistic action, while maintaining profile and the suspended, slow sink rates ideal for these styles of fishing.Small rear loopAllows you to attach hooks directly onto the shank.

Stainless steelFor saltwater use.

Hooks can be attached in 2 ways. 1. They can be connected directly to the rear loop to form a fixed articulated joint.2. They can be connected using a wire loop to create a free-swinging stinger hook. Senyo Thin Intruder Wire for hooks #6 and under are ideal.

Tie realistic, weighted shrimp and crayfish flies.

Designed by Martin Bawden

The Shrimp & Cray Tail™ is a stainless-steel weight molded in the shape of crustacean tails.

Quick and easy to tie, the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ is a simple alternative to bead chain eyes and dumbbells – two general-purpose fly tying materials which add the needed weight to shrimp and crayfish flies, but require ungainly tying methods and lack the distinctive tail profile of these creatures.

Target both saltwater and freshwater fish, from bonefish, permit, stripers, speckled trout, and redfish, to carp, smallmouth bass, and other warm-water species.

Quick and easy to tieNo more figure-8 wraps and no more twisting. Simply tie in the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ directly in line with the hook shank and slightly behind the hook eye, then tie in the rest of your materials.

Realistic look and shapeYour completed fly will have a better finish and more realistic profile because the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ is molded after the true shape of crustacean tails.

Ensure your fly tracks correctlyThe Shrimp & Cray Tail™ acts as a weighted keel by distributing most of the tail’s weight to the bottom of the fly (like a bead chain or dumbbell), ensuring it will swim in the correct position. This also allows you to tie with the hook facing either down or up.

Stable baseThe shape of the tail acts almost as a tripod to provide a stable base for your fly to stand upon, which means (unlike bead chain eyes) your fly is less likely to fall on its side while laying motionless on the sand waiting to be stripped.

Trigger the strikeThe initial strip of the fly can produce the telltale "puff" of sand or silt, similar to that of an escaping shrimp or crayfish bursting out of cover, to catch the attention of the fish you're targeting.

Stainless steelGives your fly the same weight you would expect from a bead chain or small dumbbell, allowing a predictable sink rate.

SmallFits hook sizes #8 and #6.Has the same weight and width as a small bead chain.

MediumFits hook sizes #4 and #2.Has the same weight and width as a large bead chain.

LargeFits hook sizes #2, #1, and larger.Has approximately the same weight as most small dumbbells.

The Shrimp & Cray Tail™ is quick and easy to tie with.

You'll tie your favorite shrimp or crayfish fly in the same way as you would with a bead chain eye or dumbbell, except with a Shrimp & Cray Tail™ instead.

Step 1

Start your tying thread and wrap a thread base.

Step 2

Hold the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ in position underneath the hook shank, ensuring that the rear of the tail doesn't extend past the eye of the hook.

Step 3

Tie in place using strong, even thread wraps.

Step 4

Continue tying the remainder of the fly in the normal way.

Q: How does the weight and size of the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ compare to bead chains and dumbbells?A: The SMALL size has the same weight and width as a SMALL size bead chain.

The MEDIUM size has the same weight and width as a LARGE size bead chain.

The LARGE size is the approximate equivalent weight of most SMALL size dumbbells.

This means that you can expect an equivalent and predictable sink rate when tying your favorite patterns.

Q: Can the Shrimp & Cray Tail™ be used to tie hook up and hook down flies?

A: Yes. The SCT acts as a keel helping to orientate your fly correctly in either position.

Q: Which existing fly patterns can be tied using the Shrimp & Cray Tail™?

A: The Shrimp & Cray Tail™ can be used to tie virtually any shrimp or crayfish pattern that uses a bead chain or dumbbell. It is a simple material substitute that does not necessitate you to change the basic way the fly pattern is tied or constructed. Take your current patterns to the next level or create some new ones!

Q: Which size hooks should I use?A: Hook sizes will always vary depending on which types of patterns you are tying and the hook models, however for typical bonefish flies (example: a Gotcha tied on a standard saltwater hook) we have found the following works well:

Tie lighter & tougher flies.

NEW colors: red & purpleNEW size: 1/8" for smaller streamers

Co-developed with Blane Chocklett

Blane Chocklett is widely regarded as one of the best big game anglers, fly tyers, and guides in the world. Chocklett’s Body Tubing is the authentic “secret ingredient” used by Blane in everything from trout flies to musky flies for heads, to segment the bodies, and to keep the materials flared up, allowing them to push more water and have the illusion of bulk — the hollow fly effect — while being light and castable all day.

Create a bigger fly body with less materialsThe more materials you use, the heavier your fly gets, making it harder to cast. Body Tubing creates a ramp for your material to lay against, which flares it out to create the illusion of bulk without using much material, keeping your fly light and easy to cast.

Make your fly push more waterThe flared materials allow your fly to push more water, making it more likely to attract the attention of your target fish.

Give your streamers longer livesBody Tubing is designed to be tied to protect thread wraps from the teeth of fish. In addition, as the body materials begin to flatten against the body from extended fishing, you can push the tubing forward against the tying materials to flare them back up.

Alternative to reverse-tying for easier body tapering of fliesWhether you're tying with deer hair or other fibers, Body Tubing provides a solution to time-consuming reverse-tying.

For use in fresh and saltwater streamer fly patterns of all sizesBody Tubing was made famous for its use in the T-Bone, a large musky fly, but it's a useful material for flies of all sizes. The 3-size range (1/8", 1/4", 1/2") is designed to provide an option for any size streamer fly pattern and to allow for tapering.

Our friend Gunnar Brammer of Brammer's Custom Flies put together this tutorial on how to tie with Body Tubing.

Tip from Blane:Because the 1/8" Body Tubing is so small, use as few thread wraps as possible to secure it. This allows you to fold it back over itself more easily and have more control over it, rather than being hindered by a larger mass of thread wraps.

1. Slide a piece of Body Tubing over the shank onto the edge of your tying material.

2. Tie in and leave thread in place.

3. Fold the tubing completely over itself toward the tail.

4. Adjust the open end of tubing to line up over the tied-in end. Tie off.

5. Fold the now doubled-over tubing back toward the tail to create a dam.

6. Begin the next segment directly in front of the dam to flare out the materials.